The IOC's pursuit of drug cheats from the Beijing Olympics paid off with confirmation that six athletes from three sports - including two medallists – turned up positive for a new blood-boosting substance in retests of samples from last year's games.

The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday said a total of seven positive tests involving six athletes came back positive for CERA, an advanced version of the endurance-enhancing hormone EPO.

A person familiar with the test results said the tests nabbed three track and field athletes, two cyclists and one weightlifter. The IOC did not name the athletes or sports involved, saying it was notifying the athletes through their national Olympic committees.

The person, speaking on condition of anonymity because the names haven't been released by the IOC, said one of the track and field athletes was a male gold medallist. The other medalist was in cycling.

The Italian Olympic Committee said one of the six was an Italian athlete. The Italian news agency ANSA identified him as cyclist Davide Rebellin, silver medallist in the road race.

US Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said the federation hadn't received notification from the IOC of any adverse findings involving a US athlete.

"The further analysis of the Beijing samples that we conducted should send a clear message that cheats can never assume that they have avoided detection," said Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC medical commission.

The IOC reanalysed a total of 948 samples from Beijing after new lab tests for CERA and insulin became available following the Olympics. The testing began in January and focused mainly on endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and athletics.

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